Family Keeps You Sane
by animaguswolfsong
Summary: Sirius looked at his friend. He had no idea what to say, what he could say. He had no idea what it was like to have such love, only to loose it all completely. But now they're gone.' James is having a hard time right now. Who will be there for him?noslash
1. Chapter 1: The Beginning

**A/N: This is written by two authors. Me and CleveristWitchHerAge. We would both like to add that we don't own Harry Potter, though we both wish we did, but you all knew that already, didn't you?**

**Family Keeps You Sane**

By: animaguswolfsong and CleveristWitchHerAge

_Disclaimer: Don't own it. Never have, never will._

Chapter 1 – The Beginning

"Get up, James! It's almost noon! Your uncle will be here in an hour! Get yourself presentable," James' mother, Margaret Potter, shouted through the door.

James turned around on his bed, entangling himself in his comforter as he sat up and reached for his glasses on the nightstand.

"James! Get up!"

"I'm up, I'm up," James said impatiently. He pulled the covers off himself as he stood up and walked across his floor, avoiding the few things discarded on it . He opened his door and set foot on the wooden floors in the hallway. He walked passed two doors until he came to the door at the end of the hallway and opened it. Sirius was sprawled out on the bed, drooling on his pillow and half his body on top of his comforter, the other half underneath it.

James smirked at his friend's sleeping position as he walked over to his bed and picked up a pillow from the floor.

"Sorry, Minnie," Sirius muttered. "I don't have homework."

James looked at Sirius, perturbed, until he realized that Minnie was McGonagall.

"Well, then, Mr. Black, I guess you have detention with me all week," James said accusingly.

"No!" he muttered. "I don' want it."

"Okay then. You don't have to go. School doesn't start for another week anyway." James lifted the pillow over his head and slammed it down and smacked Sirius in the face. He jumped in surprise at the sudden impact and fell back on the bed in shock.

"Wazzat?" He supported himself on his hands, looking around blindly.

"Woah!" Sirius lost his balance and fell off the bed, the curtains of sheets falling with him.

James laughed when Sirius' head poked through the covers and found him.

"You!" he accused, pointing his finger at James. James lifted his hands in innocence.

"Me? What did I do?"

Sirius stood up and began walking towards James who was backing up. Before he could take one step, though, his feet got caught in the blankets and he fell face forward and landed at James' feet with a thump.

James snorted as Sirius scrambled to get back onto his feet.

"That was not funny," Sirius insisted, rubbing his elbow.

"Yes, it was," James said.

"You know, you wouldn't have found it funny if it had been you that fell flat on your face."

"No, but that's the beauty of it. It wasn't me."

Sirius glared at James.

"Uncle David's coming in an hour. We've gotta get up," James informed Sirius.

"What time is it?" Sirius asked yawning.

"Almost noon."

"What!" Sirius exclaimed, whirling around to face James. "What person in their right mind would wake up at this ungodly hour on the last week of summer break? You're mental, James!"

"No, my mother is. Now, come on. We've gotta get going."

A few minutes later, the two were downstairs rummaging through the pantry.

"What do you think you two are doing?" James' mother asked, coming in behind them. Sirius dropped the box of cookies he was holding as they both turned to face Margaret.

"We're just looking for something to eat, Mum," James said.

"We're going to eat with David in an hour. You don't need to eat all that now. You can wait an hour, can't you?" At Sirius' face of astonishment, Margaret continued. "If you hadn't slept half the day away and had gotten up at a decent hour, then you could have eaten breakfast."

"You say decent, I say ungodly," Sirius whispered to James. He snickered before nodding to his mother.

"We'll remember next time, Mum."

"Good. Now, put the cookies away, Sirius."

Sirius pouted once again, but obediently placed the cookies on the shelf again.

"When's your dad getting home?" Sirius asked as they walked back upstairs.

"Dunno. Soon, I expect. He's always around when Uncle David is. Aunt Melanie was able to take off work so she's coming too. She's pregnant, you know."

"Really?" Sirius asked.

James nodded. "For a few months now."

"She's never been to the Potter house before, has she? Would she feel more welcomed if we were to give her a more Marauderish welcome?" Sirius asked mischievously, a slightly evil glint in his eyes.

James rolled his eyes. "No, Padfoot. We don't want to scare her off. That'd just get Uncle David mad. We don't want him mad, now, do we?"

"Well, that would just make a challenge for us Marauders. We could get ideas from his punishment as well."

"I don't especially feel like getting pranked now, thank you, Padfoot."

"Why not?"

James ignored Sirius as he opened the door to his room.

"You talked to Evans at all?" Sirius asked, plopping himself down on James' now-made bed.

James whipped around to face Sirius. "What makes you think I've talked to her?" James asked.

Sirius shrugged. "Just curious. You haven't mentioned her all summer."

"Why would I mention her?" James asked, slightly embarrassed and bewildered.

"You always mention her. Do you forget about her over the summer or something?"

"No," James snapped. "I just figured you're sick of hearing me talk about her all the time."

"Well, that's courteous of you," Sirius said. "but that never stopped you at school."

James muttered something under his breath that Sirius didn't quite catch.

"What was that, Prongs?"

Just then, the doorbell rang. The boys remained quiet for a moment when they heard the door open and James' mother greeting his uncle loudly.

James walked swiftly out the door. Sirius grabbed his arm.

"I'm not done with you yet," Sirius warned, grinning at James as he passed him.

James followed Sirius down the wooden stairs and into the living room where Mrs. Potter and Uncle David were standing along with his Aunt Melanie.

"Ah! Here's the clever young man now!" Uncle David called, catching sight of James.

"Hello, Uncle David," James greeted, grinning.

"What year are you in now? Fifth?"

Sirius snickered behind James, who glared at his friend.

David grinned at the two as he wrapped his arm around the woman next to him.

"How are you, Melanie?" Margaret asked.

The young brunette smiled. "I've never been better. I'm so excited to be here. David never stops talking about this place."

"Well, he lived here for quite a while," James put in.

"Where's Alie?" David asked, glancing around the room.

As if on cue, the door opened and Mr. Potter entered the house.

"Oh, good, you're home!" Margaret exclaimed. "I was beginning to get worried. Did something happen?" she asked.

Alexander shook his head. "Just a few men complaining, that's all." Alexander then spotted his brother.

"David!" he exclaimed. He hung his cloak on the rack by the door before walking over and embracing his younger brother.

"How are you?" he asked excitedly, but before David could answer, he continued. "Welcome, Melanie. I hope you find this old house to be wonderful!"

"Well, now that everyone's here, should we get started on our lunch? Quacky has prepared a wonderful meal for us and I can't wait to eat it," Mrs. Potter said, bustling towards the kitchen.

When they entered the dining room, there was a large amount of food piled onto the table. A large ham sat ceremoniously in the center of the table while the side dishes and toppings surrounded it in a chaotic pattern.

"It looks like Hogwarts!" Sirius exclaimed excitedly. "Mrs. P., this is fantastic!"

James shoved Sirius playfully before taking his seat beside his father. Sirius sat on the other side and dug into the feast immediately.

"Do you feed that boy?" David inquired, staring at Sirius as he piled food on his plate.

"The way they both eat, you'd imagine they were starved," Alexander informed his brother.

"So, how's work for you, Alie?" David asked. Alexander glared at his younger brother before answering.

"Fairly well, though this Voldemort fellow is becoming more of a threat. He attacked a muggle town only a few miles north of here. Killed three people. We've been busy wiping memories and getting more clues as to who this character is. The Aurors are being stretched and we're in desperate need of more employees in the Magical Law Enforcement department. The Minister's getting stressed."

"What exactly do we know about him?" Melaine asked. "The _Daily Prophet_ doesn't tell us much and what it does tell us is a jumbled mess."

Alexander finished chewing a piece of ham. "All we know is he's been gathering followers for a little over a year now and kills muggles. We don't know why yet, but we have a pretty good idea that he does it for racial reasons."

"Sick man," David muttered.

Changing the subject, Margaret addressed James and Sirius. "Are you two excited about your last year at Hogwarts?"

Sirius grinned mischievously, and James grinned back at Sirius.

"Of course, Mum. Why wouldn't we be?"

"Got any amazing pranks up your sleeves for this year?" David asked curiously.

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Of course we do! What kind of imbeciles do you take us for?"

"David, don't encourage them," Alexander said sternly. "They have enough detentions as it is."

"I hold the record for the most," Sirius said proudly.

"Only until the year starts up again! The only reason you're ahead is because you tripped and fell during our escape for our end-of-the-year prank!"

"You're just jealous!" Sirius gloated.

"No son of mine will hold the record for the most detentions. That includes you, Sirius," Margaret said firmly.

The family laughed at Sirius' indignant face before beginning on a topic of baby preparations.

* * *

"Uncle Dave, how long has it been since you've pulled a prank?" James asked as they sat on the couches in the Potter library. The room was lit by lamps lining the walls. David, James, and Sirius were all piled on the couches and chairs, flipping through Quidditch books, and pranking manuals.

"Oh, probably sixteen years," he answered. "Your father was my partner -in-crime. We just didn't have enough time to torment everyone once he started working. I started training to be a healer and you came along."

"How cute! A baby Prongs!" Sirius laughed.

"Prick," James muttered.

"Prat," Sirius replied.

Just then, an owl flew to the window behind them. James got up and opened the window to let the owl in.

"Hogwarts letters," James informed them, taking the Hogwarts-branded envelopes from the owl.

James flipped Sirius his letter before letting the owl out and opening his own letter.

Underneath the normal welcome back letter and the supplies list, James found a third parchment. James read the letter curiously, his curiosity slowly turning to disbelief as he read.

"What's wrong, Prongs? Did they kick you out because you don't hold the detention record?"

James shook his head slowly as he handed the letter to Sirius. He took it swiftly. When he finished, he laughed.

"Dumbledore's gone nutters!"

"What is it, James?" David asked curiously.

James turned to face his uncle and met his eyes.

"I'm Head Boy."


	2. Chapter 2: The Hogwarts Express

**A/N: This is written by two authors. Me and CleveristWitchHerAge. We would both like to add that we don't own Harry Potter, though we both wish we did, but you all knew that already, didn't you?**

**Family Keeps You Sane**

By: animaguswolfsong and CleveristWitchHerAge

_Disclaimer: Don't own it. Never have, never will._

Chapter 2 – The Hogwarts Express

"Come on, Sirius. We're almost to the platform!" James shouted to his friend. He reached the gateway to Platform Nine and Three Quarters and passed through the brick wall silently.

They had come early so not many people were on the platform yet. The letter had told James to be on the Hogwarts Express at ten thirty in order to meet with the Head Girl and prepare for the Prefect's meeting.

"Don't you bloody know the meaning of the word wait?" Sirius huffed as he caught up with James.

"Stop complaining, Padfoot, and follow me."

The Potters and David couldn't accompany James and Sirius to the train so before they had left, the family had sat down for a large breakfast. Sirius complained, once again, about the inhuman waking hours he was forced to keep, but once he saw the breakfast that had been prepared, he immediately woke up and tended to his stomach's needs.

"What's your hurry anyway?" Sirius asked as they boarded the train. "The Head Girl's probably some insane, hideous know-it-all prat who has some weird name like Prudence or—"

"Lily!" James exclaimed.

Sirius shook his head. "No, not Lily."

"No, you prick. Lily's here." Sirius looked around just in time to see the red-head disappear onto the train.

"Let's go!"

"Oh, that's why you're in such a hurry," Sirius realized. "Hey! Wait up!" Sirius ran after his friend and swung himself up onto the train.

James made his way to the front of the train where the compartment reserved for the prefect's meeting was located. He slid the door to the side to find Lily standing looking out of the window as she readied for the meeting. Lily looked up, startled by the intrusion, but when she saw James standing in the doorway, her fright turned to annoyance.

"Oh, great. The first person I see when I get back is Potter," Lily said exasperatedly. "What are you doing here?"

James smirked. "Why, Evans, dear! Did you not guess that I would be Head Boy?" James asked, trying to look hurt. Lily was speechless for a moment.

"You're Head Boy?" she asked faintly. "That's not possible. How could Dumbledore have chosen you? He's not that insane. You have absolutely no sense of respect, no sense of responsibility—"

"I resent that! That's not true!" James defended. Lily gave him a look as she crossed her arms.

"I happen to take great responsibility in my Quidditch duties." Lily rolled her eyes.

"Indeed," she said. "It takes great responsibility to look like a show-off on a broomstick," she said sarcastically. "I'm so proud of you, Potter."

James smiled. "Why, thank, you Evans. Your support is greatly appreciated."

"I know you're not the Head Boy, Potter, so stop pretending. Give the badge back to your friend," Lily said exasperatedly.

James gave her a quizzical look. "You want Sirius to be Head Boy?"

"No, you imbecile! Remus!"

"Oh!" James exclaimed. "Remus isn't here," he said seriously.

"Stop lying, Potter. It's not funny."

"I'm not lying. I'm really Head Boy. Here's the letter." James reached into his pocket and pulled out a crumpled piece of parchment and handed it to Lily.

Lily took the letter and read through it. When she was done, she stared at the letter disbelievingly.

"Why on earth would he choose Potter?" she muttered to herself, starting to pace. "I don't understand it. He has no sense of responsibility as I've already said, no respect for teachers, he doesn't do his homework but somehow he manages to get good grades, I smell conspiracy! He acts like he is king of the world, and he is always goofing of," Lily said, her voice growing steadily louder. She seemed to have forgotten that James was there.

James stood watching Lily continue to rant. He couldn't see what the big deal was.

"—Egotistical, arrogant, big-headed, stuck-up, stupid, idiotic git, show-offy brat—"

"Evans, you know that I'm still here, right?" James pointed out. Lily didn't hear him and kept going.

"—pompous, ignorant, selfish, shallow—"

"I resent that! I am not shallow!" James yelled over Lily.

"Like hell you are!" Lily exclaimed firmly, turning to James. "You go around thinking that you're 'oh so important' and rule everything in your sight! You go around cursing defenseless people—"

"Snape is not defenseless!" James said. "Why do you think we curse him all the time?"

"Because you're a self-centered pork!" Lily said angrily, glaring at James.

James raised an eyebrow at her. "Pork?" he asked, interested.

"Pork! Where?" Sirius exclaimed as he entered the compartment.

"Apparently I'm a self-centered pork, Padfoot," James informed his friend.

Outraged, Lily let out a furiated scream.

"_Get out! Get out, both of you!_" she screamed.

"Technically you can only kick Sirius out. I'm allowed to be here," James said.

"_I said get out!_" Lily shrieked again, drawing her wand.

James and Sirius stared at the wand.

"Now, Evans, you don't really want to hurt us now do you?" James asked.

"Not that you could," Sirius muttered under his breath, but Lily heard him.

"Would you care for a demonstration, Black?" she said in a sickly-sweet voice.

Sirius and James glanced at each other.

"Well, look at the time!" Sirius declared. "I guess we should be going."

"Yeah, we really should! See ya around, Evans!" he shouted before disappearing from sight.

* * *

James and Sirius sat slouched in a compartment with Peter Pettigrew sitting across from them. It had started raining outside and the raindrops streaked the windows. The train was rather quiet all around; not much was going on.

Just then, the door to their compartment opened.

James looked up and saw Remus Lupin walk into the compartment.

"How was the prefect meeting?" James asked, sitting up as Remus sat down next to Peter.

"Same as last year. Just how the rounds work and such. The Head Girl's Lily, of course. No surprise there. But this year, the Head Boy wasn't there and Lily wouldn't tell us who it is. A bit odd if you ask me," Remus informed them.

James and Sirius shared a mischievous look.

"I know that look," Remus said.

"What do you two know that we don't?" Peter asked.

James turned to face his friends, a huge grin plastered on his face. "You are looking at the school's new Head Boy."

Remus and Peter remained silent in shock for a moment, before Remus burst into laughter, Peter following.

"You've got to be joking!" Remus laughed. "That's the funniest thing I've ever heard!"

"No, seriously!" James said adamantly. "I have the letter, wanna see it?" James reached into his pocket, but the letter wasn't there.

"Oh, Lily has it. I showed it to her and she didn't give it back. Here's the badge," James said, pulling it out. Remus took it from James and studied it.

"A very good imitation, James, I must say, but I'm not buying it. Who's the real Head Boy?" Remus said, still smirking.

"I am!" James insisted. "Why won't anyone believe that I am Head Boy?"

"Because you aren't," Peter said, holding back his laughter.

"No, really!" James stopped. How could he convince them? "Why wouldn't Lily tell you who the Head Boy is? She didn't tell you because she doesn't want to admit that I've actually been named Head Boy."

Remus stopped. It made sense. Come to think of it, every time someone mentioned the Head Boy, her eyes glazed over, she clenched her fists, and she narrowed her eyes in what Remus now recognized as loathing.

"But why would Dumbledore choose you, James?" Peter queried. "Why not Remus or someone else. Let's face it, you're not exactly a model student."

"We've been wondering that, too," Sirius said. "I think Dumbledore's finally gone nutters." Sirius had a strangely matter-of-fact face as he said that.

"That's a really good explanation, Sirius, but we're going to keep trying," James said.

'How was your summer?" Remus asked, changing the subject.

"Not bad," James answered. "Though Sirius was a bit of a pain."

"Excuse me!" Sirius exclaimed. "I was not the one fantasizing about a certain someone very loudly all night in my sleep."

Remus choked back a laugh as Peter's eyes grew in amusement. James' cheeks grew red as his eyes narrowed at Sirius.

"Mr. Prongs would like to inform Mr. Padfoot that he has just crossed the line." James said, standing up and drawing his wand. Sirius stood as well with his wand as he squared to face James.

"Mr. Padfoot would like to query as to which line he supposedly stepped over?"

"Mr. Moony would like to inform Mr. Prongs and his dim-witted accomplice that they are acting particularly childish at this time."

"Mr. Prongs would like to tell Mr. Moony to shove it."

"Mr. Wormtail would like to voice a question. Why are we talking weird?"

"Aw, Wormtail! You messed it up!" Sirius whined, looking at Peter.

Seeing his opportunity, James jumped on Sirius, knocking him to the ground.

"Get off, prick!"

"Prat!"

"Imbecile!"

"Git!"

"Slime-ball!"

"Slytherin-scum!"

"Greasy git!"

"Ha! I win! I already said 'git'!" James said, standing up.

"No, I said _greasy _git. That's different."

"Is not!"

"Is too,"

"Is not!"

"Is too,"

"Alright! Alright! That's enough!" Remus shouted. "We're seventeen, for heaven's sake! Start acting like it."

James and Sirius sat down obediently.

"That's more like it," Remus said, leaning back in his seat, getting comfortable.

"How was your summer, Peter?" Remus asked.

"Of, fine, I guess. A bit awkward, though."

"In what way?" Remus asked curiously.

"M dad kept acting really strange. He'd come home late, leave in the middle of meals. He'd be telling a joke one minute and the next, he'd apparate away."

"You haven't put anti-apparation wards on your house?" James asked inquisitively.

"You have? Why?"

"My dad hired someone to put them up because of Voldemort," James said. "He's a bit cautious, my dad."

"He has a right to be!" Sirius exclaimed. "Anyone my idiotic family approves of is bound to be bad news,"

"How do you know your family supports him?" Remus questioned.

"Besides the obvious that he's dark and my family attaches to anything dark, they owled me a few times this summer." Sirius shrugged. "Just telling me I've made the biggest mistake of my life and it's going to get completely destroyed. Oh, and that I'm not welcome back, not that I had any intention of returning," Sirius muttered, looking out the window.

"I'm sorry, Sirius," Remus whispered.

Sirius spun around. "Don't be!" he exclaimed. "They're not my family; I'm more a Potter than a Black anyway. I don't care what they think. Like James says, blood doesn't make you family. It's what you have in common with them that makes them your family."

"Like love," Peter said.

"Oh, don't get too corny, Wormtail!" Sirius jested.

"Sorry," Peter mumbled, embarrassed.

"Don't be!" James said. "We're all a family. You don't have to apologize to each other."

"We're all Marauders. We've got Moony Marauder, Wormtail Marauder, Padfoot Marauder, and Prongs Marauder. Four brothers," Sirius said.

There was silence for a moment before James said, "That was probably the sappiest moment we've ever had. Let's never do that again." There was a short murmur of agreement before they burst out laughing and the train pulled to a stop to mark their arrival at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

**A/N: Hope you liked it! Next chapter up soon!**


	3. Chapter 3: Professor Rune

**Family Keeps You Sane**

By: animaguswolfsong and CleveristWitchHerAge

_Disclaimer: Don't own it. Never have, never will._

Chapter 3 – Professor Rune

James left the Gryffindor common room, waving goodnight to his friends. Once he was on the other side of the portrait, he took one flight of stairs up to the next floor and headed straight to the Head's dorm. McGonagall had informed both and him and Lily where the dorm was located and what the current password was.

When he approached the portrait of a forest fairy, James stopped and the fairy turned to face him.

"Password?" the fairy asked in an extremely high-pitched voice.

"Fairy lights," James said. The fairy nodded and swung outward, letting James inside. The room was red and gold because both Heads were Gryffindors. It looked oddly similar to the Gryffindor common room, except for the two door way on opposite ends of the room. Each had a golden plaque place over the door with each Head's names eloquently scrawled on the gold.

James smiled and walked towards the door with his name and walked into the room. He was amazed to find that it was an exact replica of his own room. He looked around and spotted another door. He walked over to it and opened it. Inside was a spacious bathroom with another door on the other side.

James raised his eyebrows. Sharing a bathroom with Lily? This was going to be interesting. She would probably think that this was his doing, that he somehow coerced Dumbledore into creating this connecting bathroom.

Just then, the door opened and Lily walked in. She stopped dead when she saw James standing there.

"Potter, what are you doing here?" she demanded.

"Looking around, same as you," he answered casually.

"You mean I have to share a bathroom with you?" she asked, appalled.

"I guess so," James shrugged.

"Great! Just great!" Lily sighed, then turned around and walked back into her room, slamming the door behind her.

This was definitely going to be an interesting year.

* * *

The next morning, James met his friends at the Gryffindor table. He sat down and he helped himself to some breakfast.

"So," Sirius muttered, swallowing his food. "How was last night?" he said, grinning.

James eyed his friend. "What would the meaning behind that statement be, Padfoot?" James asked suspiciously.

"Oh, I don't know," Sirius said. "How'd our Lily-flower take the news that you two were going to share a bathroom?"

James choked on his pumpkin juice. "How'd you know about that?" James sputtered.

"I overheard her talking quite loudly about this to her friends," Sirius explained.

James nodded and took a bite out of his croissant. "What is on the timetable for this year?"

"Well, old Minnie is first, then we get to find out more about the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."

"What's his name again?" Peter asked.

"Professor Rune," Remus answered. "He seems really…" he trailed off, trying to think of the right word.

"Freaky?" Sirius supplied.

"No, not freaky, Sirius," Remus said. "More like, strict. Elusive."

"Sounds like a normal Defense teacher," James said.

Just then, Lily walked into the Great Hall, accompanied by two other girls. Adelie Hansen and Tori Booth. Tori was on the Quidditch team as the seeker since their fourth year.

Lily's eyes caught James' but immediately turned away and ushered her friends to the far end of the table as far from James as possible.

"You still haven't answered my question," Sirius stated.

"What question?" James asked.

"The one I asked almost five minutes ago," Sirius exclaimed.

"Your memory can go that far?" Peter asked.

"I wouldn't talk if I were you, Wormtail," Sirius threatened.

"What did you ask, Sirius?" Remus queried, looking at his friend. Sirius straitened as he turned to James.

"How'd our Lily-flower take the news that you two were going to share a bathroom?"

"How do you think she took it?" James replied.

"Picking up the closest breakable thing and aiming it at your head sounds about right."

"Not exactly. She just sort of walked out. I think she's tired of dealing with me," James said.

"Poor Prongs. Whatever shall he do? No Lily-flower to hate him."

"Shove it, Padfoot," James said, feigning anger. Sirius only laughed at him before returning to his breakfast.

* * *

James and the other Marauders were sitting in the back of the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, waiting for the professor to make an entrance. Lily and her friends were sitting in the front of the classroom, talking quietly amongst themselves. James was mentally debating with himself whether he should go down and talk to her. Why not? Because she'd just yell at him more. So? That'd never stopped him before.

"Prongs. Prongsie, you in there?" Sirius called. James didn't respond. "OY! PRONGSIE! WAKE UP!" James jumped in his seat at the sudden noise.

"Sirius! Don't do that!" James exclaimed.

"There will be no shouting in this class, Mr. Potter. You too, Mr. Black."

The class turned to the front of the room where a tall, dark man now stood, placing papers on the desk.

"How did you know our names?" Sirius asked, surprised.

"I know all my students' names. I, unlike many of you, do my homework. Sirius Black, oldest son of Orion and Walburga Black, younger brother, Regulus A. Black, has lived with the Potters since the summer before your sixth year." The class sat in shocked silence as they stared at the professor, who acted as if nothing unusual had occurred.

"Could you give that much about each of your students?" Sirius asked, trying to hide his uneasiness.

"Of course, but that is not the topic of today's lesson. Today's lesson is basically an introductory lesson, per say. Today, we will focus on recapping, because I'm sure that not many of you even picked up a book this summer. Now, where shall we begin?" Professor Rune scanned the classroom. Many of the seventh years shifted their gaze when his fell on them.

"Miss Evans," he whispered, though his voice carried across the room. Lily's head shot up as she stared into the professor's eyes.

"Yes, Professor?" she asked, slightly nervous.

"Can you tell me exactly what would happen to you if you were to be caught in Oneirogenic Mud?"

Lily hesitated at first, shaking slightly under Rune's steady gaze. "When Oneirogenic Mud comes into contact with your skin, it causes your nerves to temporarily cease working, causing you to become numb and unable to move. You slip into a kind of dream state where you live out your worst nightmare and before you can wake up, you've sunk too far into the mud to get out and you suffocate," Lily answered thoroughly.

"Impressive," Rune sneered. "Tell me, Miss Evans, what would your worst nightmare be?"

Lily looked taken aback. She stuttered, "I-I'm not sure, Professor. Why do you—"

"Your worst fear is the most powerful tool an enemy can use against you, that is why there are so many weapons and monsters out there that bring forth your worst fear such as dementors and boggarts. Your enemy can be easily subdued or killed if they are terrified out of their mind.

"For the next few weeks, we will be dealing with fear and how to overcome it. There are many different kinds of fears. The two main categories are rational and irrational fears. For example, fear of darkness is an irrational fear. What can the darkness do to harm you? Some may even classify arachnophobia or ophidiophobia, a fear of snakes, as an irrational fear, because they will not harm you unless you threaten them .

"The best way to defeat an enemy attack that is fear-based is mentally fight it off, though that is easier said than done. As this is a N.E.W.T. defense class, we will be focusing on the mind as a powerful weapon against an opponent. Over the course of the next few weeks, you will have identified your fear and have a solid defense on how to fight off that fear. Any questions?"

The class was silent. No one dared ask a question.

"If anyone writes down that their fear is me," he paused. "you are not very amusing. The point of this is to divulge your worst nightmare so you can arm yourself against it." Silence rang through the room. "No questions? Very well.

"For next class, I want you to have, ready to hand in, a detailed account of what you believe to be your worst fear. The first step in conquering your fear is realizing what it is. I will also expose you to a touch of Oneirogenic Mud. If you are correct in your assumption of what your worst fear is, then you will receive a few extra points on your essay. Fear is not only a conscious thing. The Mud will find what your true fear is, what your subconscious fear is. I want you to think long and hard about this. It is no laughing matter.

"Fears constantly change. As situations change, fears change. As times darken, your worries begin to shift from yourself to those around you, in most cases, at least. Fear is powerful. Neither a man nor a crowd nor a nation can be trusted to act humanely or to think sanely under the influence of a great fear. Beware of yourself."

* * *

"That man is bloody terrifying," Remus muttered as the four friends sat in the Heads' common room. "What kind of man acts like that?"

"That kind," Sirius said wisely.

"Well, I know what my fear is," Remus said.

"What?" Peter asked. Remus looked around the room before turning to look at his friends.

"You know what it is."

"Oh," James said, understanding dawning on him. "People finding out about your 'furry little problem'."

Remus nodded, smiling slightly at James' term.

"I don't know what mine would be," Sirius muttered. "I have nothing to be scared of, really."

"I'm scared of snakes," Peter put in.

"Professor Rune doesn't want us to use 'irrational fears'," James said. "Snakes don't count."

"What about you, Prongs?" Remus asked.

James remained silent for a moment. "I'm not sure. Same as Sirius. I'm not sure what my fear would be. And if it were my choice, I wouldn't think about my fears. I'd much rather think about Quidditch or something."

"Quidditch, huh?" a female voice sounded from behind them. James turned around and saw Lily, Adelie, and Tori walking up to them.

"This room will not become the Marauder Club House, Potter. I won't let it," Lily threatened. James stood up, followed by Sirius.

"What do you want, Evans?" James asked lazily.

"I want you and your idiots to get out of here," she said.

"I resent that!" Sirius exclaimed.

"Wow, Sirius. 'Resent' is a pretty big word," Lily said.

"Watch it, Evans," James muttered, getting slightly angry.

"What, Potter?"

"No one, not even you, insults my friends."

"Potter, just drop it. I'm not impressed. Now, just get out of here," Lily said exasperatedly.

"We're not leaving. Why don't you and your friends go into your room?"

"Why don't you?" Lily demanded.

"Because we were here first and may I point out you interrupted us."

"What were we interrupting, exactly?" Tori questioned, speaking for the first time. "I heard talk of Quidditch. Now, I'm not undermining the importance of Quidditch, as I am on the team, but couldn't you talk about Quidditch in your room?"

"For your information, we weren't talking about Quidditch. We were talking about our Defense homework," Sirius said proudly.

Lily scoffed. "I don't believe you."

"Really, Evans, we were. You see, we were just getting around to what my fear is and now, I'm beginning to believe that it would be that—"

"Don't you dare say anything about me going out with you, Potter, because if you do I swear I'm going to slap you!"

"On that note, will you go out with me?" James said, grinning widely. Sirius' eyes grew wide as James said that. Remus groaned at the stupidity of his friend and Peter scrunched up, bracing himself for the slap.

They didn't need to wait long, for in one fell swoop, Lily had taken a step forward, raised her hand, and had brought it down with such ferocity, that the sound rang through the room and James staggered backwards from the impact.

"I hate you so much, Potter!" Lily screamed as she ran out of the room, Adelie and Tori quickly following behind her.

"She's never hit me before," James whispered, slightly shocked.

"That was one of the stupidest things you've ever done, James," Remus said seriously.

"I agree with Remus, mate. That was completely mindless."

James felt his cheek. It stung greatly and knew that it had to be red.

"She left her handprint on your face, James," Peter commented.

James turned to the mirror by the fireplace and saw that indeed there was a huge red mark in the shape of a hand imprinted on his left cheek.

"I'm going to bed," James proclaimed as he quickly turned from the mirror and headed to his room, leaving his friends alone in the room.

* * *

**A/N: Okay, "Fear is powerful. Neither a man nor a crowd nor a nation can be trusted to act humanely or to think sanely under the influence of a great fear. Beware of yourself," is a quote from Bertrand Russell, just so you guys know that. Well, hope you liked it. We'll post soon.**


	4. Chapter 4: Fears

**A/N: This is written by two authors. Me and CleveristWitchHerAge. We would both like to add that we don't own Harry Potter, though we both wish we did, but you all knew that already, didn't you?**

**Family Keeps You Sane**

By: animaguswolfsong and CleveristWitchHerAge

_Disclaimer: Don't own it. Never have, never will._

Chapter 4 – Fears

James skipped through the halls, Sirius of course by his side. They made their way around the crowds of students on their way to class, surprising some by their sudden appearance.

"They look like idiots, don't they?" Lily said quite loudly to Adelie.

"I actually think it's rather funny," Tori said.

"I don't. They're in seventh year. Potter's Head Boy. He should at least act like it," Adelie commented.

"I hate him so much! Why wasn't Remus made Head Boy?" Lily queried. "I can at least stand him and he isn't immature like his buffoon friends. I've been thinking about asking Dumbledore about it."

"It bothers you that much?" Adelie asked as she walked into the Transfiguration classroom.

"Yes!" Lily exclaimed, taking he seat at the front of the classroom. "He's such a…such a…."

"Devilishly good-looking man!" a male voice interjected from behind them. Lily stood up and whipped around. Her green eyes narrowed as they fell on James.

"I would never say that in a million years, Potter, _ever_!" she growled.

James feigned hurt. "Why, Evans? You think I'm ugly?"

"If it will make you leave me alone, then yes!"

"Ah! You do think I'm devilishly good-looking!" James exclaimed, running his hand through his hair.

"No! Now leave me alone, Potter. You're not funny, and I never will find you so!" Lily exclaimed and turned to face the front so sharply that her hair whipped James in the face. James was about to say something else when Professor McGonagall walked into the classroom, calling everyone to order. James made his way back to his seat with Sirius.

"Lily seems like she is in a good mood today, don't you think?" Sirius asked cheerfully as James sat down.

"Shut up, Padfoot," James muttered, pulling out his books. Sirius shrugged and pulled his books out too. As Professor McGonagall began her lecture on human transfiguration, Sirius fell asleep.

Before he knew it, Remus nudged him in the arm.

"Huh?"

"Class is over," Remus informed him. James gave him a confused look.

Class is over?" he asked amazed.

"Yeah, did you fall asleep or something?"

"I guess so," James said, standing up.

"Daydreaming about our Liliykins?" Sirius teased, a huge grin on his face. Remus and peter snickered as they walked away, noticing a small blush rise in James' cheeks. James mumbled something as he walked out of the classroom, his friends laughing behind him.

* * *

School had now been in for a few weeks. It was breakfast and the Great Hall was filled with lots of chatter, when the familiar fluttering of wings drowned out the talking. All the heads turned upward to see the hundreds of owls swooping into the Great Hall. 

A large barn owl stopped at that Gryffindor table in front of the Marauders. It carried a folded newspaper.

"_The Daily Prophet,_" James said as he took the newspaper from the owl. He unrolled it and gasped at the front page.

"Sirius, guys, look!" the four boys looked at where James pointed to the headline on the front page.

DARK WIZARD KILLS FOURTEEN

_Late last night, the dark wizard calling himself Lord Voldemort made an appearance at the Muggle Protection Agency (MPA) with ten followers, known as Death Eaters. Only three wizards who were employed there escaped unharmed out of the twenty employees present at the time of the attack. _

"_We had no idea what to think at first," said William Meyers, founder of the MPA. "We were all terrified. We saw his mark, the Dark Mark in the sky and I knew most of us wouldn't last the night."_

"_You-Know-Who", as one survivor called him, entered the building just after it had been closed to the public. The Death Eaters killed a total of fourteen witches and wizards who worked there and all the…_

"That's my great uncle, William Meyers. He's my mum's uncle," James said gravely. He looked at the picture on the front page. It had a burning building with a glowing skull and snake floating over it mockingly.

"This is his first attack on wizards, isn't it?" Remus asked.

Sirius nodded. "He's not just trying to get rid of muggles, but muggle-loving wizards also."

"Which means you four should be going bye-bye soon enough," a voice said from behind James.

"Snivillus," Sirius sneered. "What on earth are you doing on this side of the Great Hall? Aren't you afraid you'll get sick from being around Gryffindors?"

Snape only smirked. "Only a fool would believe he'd get sick from being around someone. But of course, you are a fool, Black."

Sirius growled as he stood up, James close behind him. James placed his hand on Sirius' shoulder.

"That's right, Potter, keep a leash on that mutt. He needs it."

Sirius shook James' hand off his shoulder and whipped out his wand. He had it pointed at Snape's nose.

"Watch it, Snape," Sirius growled.

"Watch it, Black," Snape replied calmly.

"_Furniculus!" _Sirius shouted. Snape had no time to react; the curse hit him before Sirius had even finished saying the incantation. HE flew backwards towards the door. Those close by laughed as Snape stood up. Hideous red, bubbling boils now overran his face. He gave a loathsome look in Sirius' direction before turning and exiting the hall.

"I hate that greasy git," Sirius muttered darkly.

"Come on, let's get out of here," James said as he led Sirius out of the room, Remus and peter quickly following.

That afternoon, James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter were sitting in the seventh year dorms working on their Defense essays.

James cried out in frustration. "I can't think of a single thing!"

"You can't? I can't!" Sirius exclaimed.

"All I'm thinking of is snakes!" Peter whined.

"Do you think these are going to stay private or is he going to share with the class what our fear is? Remus asked.

"He won't share it. That'd just be cruel," Peter said.

"He seems that type, though," Sirius said.

Remus groaned as he scratched over his paper. "I'm picking something different, then. I don't care what Rune says. I'm not putting that down."

"So none of us know what our fear is? Great," James muttered.

"I do know," Remus said. "but I'm not putting that down."

"So do I," Peter muttered. "but mine's 'irrational'."

A few minutes of silence passed before Sirius jumped up and exclaimed.

"I'm such an idiot!"

"Yeah, you are," Remus agreed, staring into the fire.

"You're not supposed to agree with me!" Sirius exclaimed.

"But it's true! You want me to lie?" Remus asked.

"If it makes me feel better, yes," Sirius said. "But what I was going to say, before Remus so rudely insulted me, is that I know what my fear is."

James perked up and looked intently at Sirius.

"What is it, Padfoot?"

Sirius sat down, calming himself as he stared at his friends.

"Now don't make fun of me," Sirius said as a preclude. "It's kinda stupid."

"It's okay, Sirius," Peter said. "We won't laugh."

Sirius took a deep breath. "Well, I-I'm kinda afraid that maybe I might…turn into my parents…"

"You won't, Sirius," James said, seriously. "I won't let you."

"Yeah," Peter agreed. "You're the first Black that was even placed in any house other than Slytherin. To make it even better, you got put into Gryffindor."

"You wouldn't be in Gryffindor if you were going to turn into your parents," James said.

"But guys," Sirius protested. "I begged the hat not to put me in Slytherin. I begged the hat to put me in Gryffindor. What if I should have gone to Slytherin with my family? What if me being in Gryffindor is a mistake? What if I'm destined to be like them? What if—"

"What if you turn into a cat and your nose falls off?" James asked with a straight face. Sirius stopped mid-sentence and faced James.

"Can that really happen? Oh, what if it does? I'll be a freak of nature! I'll look hideous! I won't have any girls—"

"Sirius, stop!" James shouted. He didn't. James walked over to Sirius and smacked him in the face. He paused for a moment, shook his head, and looked at James.

"What was that for?" Sirius questioned.

"You were talking crazy," James answered simply.

"Thanks," Sirius muttered as he sat down again. "But how do you know that I really wasn't meant to be in Slytherin? How do you know I won't end up killing you all?"

"Do you want to kill us?" James asked. Sirius gave him a look.

"You know what I mean. People can change in an instant. One thing can mess everything up. I don't want to be the one that messes everything up."

"You won't be," James insisted.

"How do you—"

"Don't even ask that, Padfoot," James said sternly. "Now, I don't make friends with Death Eaters. We Potters have a reputation for being on the light side, do we not? I won't let you become a Death Eater, got it?"

Sirius smirked at the serious look on James' face.

"You'll knock sense into me, then?"

"Absolutely!" James assured him.

"Good," Sirius said. After a moment of silence passed, Sirius asked, "Anyone else wanna share their fear?"

* * *

**A/N: Hey! Just so you guys know, we do look at the statistics on our story. Now, I find it really annoying when other people ask me to review their story, but there's been 334 people read this story, but we've only gotten 3 reveiws. Now, if you review, I have a nice, warm, soft chocolate chip cookie for you. Plus, it would boost our spirits. **

**Also, this was a pretty short chapter. Our next one is much longer than this and will be up soon!**


	5. Chapter 5: Lily's lover

**A/N: This is written by two authors. Me and CleveristWitchHerAge. We would both like to add that we don't own Harry Potter, though we both wish we did, but you all knew that already, didn't you?**

**Family Keeps You Sane**

By: animaguswolfsong and CleveristWitchHerAge

_Disclaimer: Don't own it. Never have, never will._

Chapter 5 – Lily's Lover

James looked up from the letter in his hands as a sharp knock sounded on his door.

"Come in," he said. The door opened and Sirius poked his head inside.

"Hey, Prongs," he said as he plopped down on the bed. "Whatcha got there?" he asked, pointing to the letter.

"Just a letter from my parents," James answered, handing the letter to Sirius for him to read.

"My great uncle is going into hiding. You know the one that was the head of the MPA?" Sirius nodded as he read the letter.

"This Voldemort guy must be turning into some threat if your great uncle has to go into hiding," Sirius commented as he handed the letter back to James. James nodded, his expression concerned.

"I'm sure that he will be alright, James. I mean he has the entire Potter family behind him," Sirius said, guessing James's fear.

"I sure hope so, Padfoot." James sighed looking over at his loyal friend. Sirius put a comforting hand on James's shoulder. James looked back at the letter once more then stood up. "Let go get some lunch."

"Alright," Sirius said.

* * *

James and Sirius made there way down to the Quidditch pitch for practice. They were going down early to get some extra field time in and the rest of the team would show up later. They arrived at the pitch and took to the skies.

Once James was on his broom, wind pressing against his face, making his hair messier than normal, his thoughts drifted from the looming threat on his family to the free feeling that enveloped him when he flew through the air.

Too soon in James' opinion, did the rest of the Gryffindor team arrive, brooms in hand. James and Sirius flew down to meet the team. Tori had gotten the balls from the shed and Keith McMullen helped her by holding the other side of the box. Keith played as the team's seeker. As of right now, he held the record for the fastest catches in Hogwarts history, ending a game against Hufflepuff in five minutes, the final score, 150 to nothing. He made the team when he was in third year and had helped the team each of the three years he'd been a part of it.

Lee Roberts, a fifth year, filled the last spot for chaser. He had only been on the team for a year, only getting the guts to try out during his fourth year. James liked him. He was quick and handled the Quaffle professionally. The only thing that annoyed James about Lee was his shy demeanor. He hardly spoke a word during practices, and that had worried James when he had first met him. Lee surprised James and the whole Gryffindor team when, during his first match, he had knocked a Slytherin off his broom, though he claims it was an accident. He turns horrifyingly aggressive when he plays Quidditch, which doesn't bother James at all.

The youngest member of the team, Kingsley Shacklebolt, made the team the previous year as a second year. James thinks him quite amusing at times, always eager to learn all he can and has a great sense of humor. He is Sirius' partner in the business of beating. James swears he's the strongest thirteen-year-old he's ever met. He broke a Hufflepuff's arm on accident. James has no doubt it was an accident; the boy was so distraught after the incident, he wouldn't pick up a beater's bat for two weeks. Finally, Sirius had to force him to practice by casting a spell so Kingsley couldn't let go of the bat.

Eric Wells played as the team's keeper. In the same year as James and Sirius, Eric has been playing for the team since his third year when the previous keeper graduated. Nothing special made Eric stand out. He was a decent keeper; he could block the ball, but his attitude annoyed everyone. James rolled his eyes as Eric strode forward in a pompous manner, his broom in his hand.

"Ready for the season, Potter?" he asked airily. Sirius frowned as he walked up to James' side.

"The question is, Eric, are you?" James queried, casting a steady gaze on Eric. Eric huffed and rolled his eyes.

"I won't tolerate any of your attitude this year. I'm the captain of this team. If you have a problem with that, take it up with McGonagall, don't make the team suffer for your stupidity. If I have to, I will replace you," James threatened. He then turned to the rest of the team. "In the air, all of you!" he commanded, a smile on his face. "It's time for some Quidditch."­­­

* * *

Lily walked hurriedly through the hallway towards the Head's Dorm. She didn't know why exactly she walked so briskly, she just was. She and Adelie were planning on meeting together to discuss their Defense Against the Dark Arts homework. Tori had Quidditch practice with Potter. Lily shuddered in anger at the thought.

"_Fairy lights_," she muttered to the portrait, who swung open with a nod of her head. Lily rushed inside and walked straight for her room.

"Lily!" Adelie cried as Lily entered the room. Lily turned sharply to see her friend sitting in the stuffed armchair by her window. Lily smiled.

"Hi, Adelie," Lily greeted as she set her bag on her bed.

"Are you ready?" Adelie asked, walking over to the bed. Lily plopped down and pulled out a quill and parchment to write on.

"I don't know, really," Lily said. "I don't want to share my fear with anyone. It's not their business," she stated.

Adelie nodded her head. "Yeah, but you have to admit, it does make sense. We need to be prepared. Professor Rune's right. There are more weapons and spells targeting fears than anything else. I'm a bit excited."

"I'm not," Lily said. "I don't exactly plan on marching out with the front lines to fight some maniac."

"Why not?" Adelie asked, her face looking curiously at her friend. "Out of you, me and Tori, you have more incentive to want to fight. He's targeting muggles and you're muggleborn. Tori and I aren't."

"I guess," Lily agreed. "but that doesn't mean I want to fight. You know how horrible I am at dueling."

"Unless it's James Potter you're fighting," Adelie pointed out absentmindedly. Lily's eyes suddenly burned with fury and Adelie looked up from her parchment in realization of what she had said.

"Lily, calm down. That was two years ago," she said, trying to soothe the furious Lily.

"That no-good, idiotic, selfish, self-centered, insolent—"

"Lily!" Adelie shouted. Lily turned to face her friend. "That was two years ago. And you have to admit, James can bring the scariest fighting spirit out of you." Lily calmed down at the mention of the duel she had had with James. A sly grin spread over her lips as she remembered that day.

"Wasn't that glorious, James flying through the air, landing flat on his back?"

Adelie giggled at her friend's far off look. "If you say so," she said, shaking her head.

"I wish I could do that again," she muttered.

"You know, I bet that just because you go to such lengths to avoid him, you're going to end up saying yes to him eventually, either because you actually like him, or you're sick of him asking."

"What!" Lily screamed, jumping off the bed. "Are you mad? That's the most absurd thing I've ever heard! You've got to be joking!" Lily cried as she stared at her friend.

Adelie just laughed. Lily fixed her with a confused stare. "You hate him so much! It's ridiculous!" Lily just rolled her eyes and sat back on the bed.

* * *

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­In the common room after dinner, the Marauders were sitting by the fire. Remus and Sirius were playing a game of Exploding Snap. Peter was struggling over his Defense Against the Dark Arts essay and James was staring off in the corner of the room where Lily diligently worked on her homework, presumably the same assignment that all the seventh years were working on, the Defense essay.

What was Lily's fear, James wondered. Her hair slipped from her ponytail and fell in her face. She quickly tucked it behind her ears as she furiously worked on her essay. James grinned goofily as he took in her appearance. The setting sun shone through the window, lighting her radiant hair. Her hand moved swiftly across the paper and her eyes . . . her eyes . . .

Abruptly, someone stepped in his view, drawing James from his reverie. Eric had just walked up to Lily pompously. Lily looked up at his approach and Eric sat down at the table.

James' curiosity peaked with interest when Lily giggled at something Eric Wells had said. His eyes narrowed as he stared at the two. What was that idiot doing?

"Prongs, what's wrong?" Remus inquired. James ignored him as he stood up and walked closer towards the table. He got close enough to the table to hear what the two were saying without them spotting him. What was Wells doing? He'd never talked to Lily before.

"So I was wondering," Wells said sweetly. "if you would do me the honor of keeping me company on the first Hogsmead trip this weekend." James' eyes burned in fury as he subconsciously reached for his wand. Lily took a moment before she agreed to go with him, but to James it was instant. When Wells leaned forward and lightly pecked Lily on the cheek, James' fury boiled over, and he walked towards him.

Before he could take two steps though, someone grabbed his arm. James whipped around and glared at whoever had stopped him.

"Remus, let go of me," he muttered darkly.

"I don't think so, James. That's a really bad idea, going over there."

"But that bloody idiot just asked Lily out!" James said strongly.

"Now's not the best time to blast anyone's head off, James. At the risk of sounding like a parent, maybe you should go to your room and calm down," Remus said just as sternly.

James shook himself free from Remus' grip before taking a look at Eric and pocketing his wand. He gave one last look at his friends before angrily walking out of the portrait to his room, fuming the whole way.

That night, James couldn't sleep. He had decided that the next morning he would talk to Lily about Eric. She didn't know him very well; he was slime, and it would only take Lily a few days to figure that out, he hoped. He only used girls. He didn't care about them. A question that haunted him all night was why did Lily say yes to Eric? He had to be even more egotistical than James acted, so why had Lily turned James down when Eric was just as big a jerk as Lily claimed James was?

He saw her on the way to Ancient Runes after breakfast, accompanied by Adelie and Tori.

"Hey, Evans, wait up!" he called jogging after Lily. She turned, but at the sight of James, she turned back around. James sped up when he noticed that Lily wasn't going to wait for him. When he fell into step with her, he asked, "Why didn't you stop? That's rather rude."

"Well, you aren't exactly someone who's worth waiting for, Potter," she replied coolly.

James ignored Lily and jumped in front of her, halting her movement.

"Move, Potter," Lily commanded. James shook his head. Lily sighed exasperatedly and made to move around James, but he stepped with her.

"What do you want?" she snapped.

"I have a few questions for you," James said calmly.

"Well, get on with it, then!"

"Why are you going with Eric Wells to Hogsmeade this weekend?" James asked. Lily looked taken aback at the question.

"What?" Adelie and Tori exclaimed at the same time.

"How did you know about that?" Lily asked.

James raised an eyebrow. "They didn't know?" James asked, eyeing Adelie and Tori.

"Of course not!" Lily exclaimed. "It just happened last night!"

"You said yes to that jerk?" Tori exclaimed, staring in shock at Lily.

"What do you mean 'jerk'?" Lily eyed Tori.

"We're drifting from my question," James said. "Why'd you say yes to him, Evans?"

"What are you, the jealous boyfriend?" Lily asked, furious. James opened his mouth to reply, but Lily cut him off. "No, you aren't. This is none of your business, Potter, and if you don't leave me alone, I swear that I'll blast your head off!" Lily screamed before turning furiously and storming off down the hall, Adelie and Tori right behind her.

James just stood there, staring after Lily's retreating figure, mentally hitting himself for being so stupid.

"Hey, Prongs! I've been looking for you." James looked up and saw Sirius walking up to him.

"You okay?" he asked.

James nodded his head. "Yeah," he said. "I'm fine."

* * *

­The next morning at breakfast Lily glared as much as possible at James. He tried to ignore the piercing green eyes, but he wasn't too successful

"You got any idea why Evans is trying to kill you with her stare?" Sirius asked between mouthfuls.

James didn't answer.

"I'll take that as a yes," Sirius concluded.

"What did you do, James?" Remus asked with a sigh.

Before James could say anything, not that he was planning on answering, the post arrived. Owls swooped into the Great Hall, flying to each of the four house tables. The students eagerly took the gifts and letters from the owls, talking excitedly about what they received.

In the midst of the white and brown owls, a lone black owl swooped down, scanning the whole hall, swooping back and forth across the room. It then began to fly straight for the Gryffindor table and landed right in front of the Marauders. Those nearby stared over at the owl as it turned to face James.

James had never seen the owl before, but the letter was for him. The black envelope was tied with a red ribbon and his name was scrawled on the front in elegant silver letters. James set his fork down, reached for the letter, and opened it . . . .

* * *

**A/N: Oooh! Cliffie. Just so you know, it's not a stupid Death Eater letter. It's not from Voldemort. If you've read one of those stories, you know what I'm talking about. If you haven't, don't worry about it. **

**About the cookies, I burned them. Plus, we've got this huge blizzard going on. It's been snowing since 5 in the morning yesterday. It's supposed to keep snowing til noon today. We have huge rifts all over the place. We can't get out our front door! Well, that just means we both have time to work on our story. **

**I will not resort to begging for reviews! I won't!**

**But if you want to give one as a gift . . . **

**The next chapter will be up soon. January is what we're shooting for. In chapter 6, they will finally have their Defense Against the Dark Arts class, you will find out what is written in the letter, and wittness Voldemort's slow rise to power.**

**Look out for the next chapter: Defense Against the Dark Arts.**


	6. Chapter 6: Defense Against the Dark Art

**A/N: Sorry! We didn't update for a really, really, really, really, really long time. We decided to work on this again. We're not sure how fast we'll get stuff up, but we will try our best to get you guys new chapters frequently. Thanks for reading!**

**This is written by two authors. Me and CleveristWitchHerAge. We would both like to add that we don't own Harry Potter, though we both wish we did, but you all knew that already, didn't you?**

**Family Keeps You Sane**

By: animaguswolfsong and CleveristWitchHerAge

_Disclaimer: Don't own it. Never have, never will._

Chapter 6 - Defense Against the Dark Arts

_Mr. Potter,_

_We regrettably inform you of the death of__ William Meyers__. This is a great loss for all of us. He died defending our way of life and no one will ever forget that. My sincerest condolences for your loss._

_We will notify you when the funeral date is set._

_Sincerely,_

_Millicent Bagnold_

_Minister of Magic_

James stared at the letter in slight shock. His mouth hung open as he stared at the letter.

"James, what is it?" Sirius asked. James looked up. Remus and Peter were leaning in towards him, staring curiously at him. The owl had flown away right after delivering the letter.

"What is it?" Remus asked.

"My . . . my uncle, he died," James said in a whisper.

"Oh, James," Remus muttered, his eyes filling with sorrow.

"It's okay," James said. "I'll be fine. He was my great uncle. I didn't know him very well." James stared back at the letter. He really hadn't known his Uncle William very well, but his mother had. His mother was very close to him, and James could only imagine how she was feeling right now.

"How'd he die? What'd your mum say?" Peter asked.

"What?" James asked.

"Isn't that letter from your mum and dad?" Peter explained.

James' eyes widened. "No," he said. "The Minister of Magic sent it."

"What?" Sirius queried, talking the letter from James and reading it. "The Ministry doesn't send out death letters."

"I know. The letter says 'he died defending our way of life.'"

"Maybe Voldemort killed him."

Just then, another owl swooped down in front of the Marauders. This one, they recognized. It was the Potter family owl, Bimbo.

"Hey, Bim," James whispered as he untied the letter from the owl's foot. James let Bimbo nip his finger affectionately before flying off. He opened the letter and read it.

"We were right," James announced after reading. "Uncle Will was killed. Voldemort's Death Eaters killed him yesterday."

"They found him?"

James nodded. "My mum found him this morning. The Dark Mark was over his house."

Peter shivered at the thought. "Is your mum alright?"

"She's a bit upset. Dad wrote the letter. Mum's in her room. She's taking a few days off work."

"You sure okay, Prongs?" Sirius asked.

"Yes, Padfoot. You don't need to worry about me." James stood up with that. He took the letter back from Sirius and walked out of the Great hall.

The entire day went slow for the Marauders. No one knew what to say to James, and James didn't seem too keen on talking at the moment. The group filed into the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom as they usually did, taking their places near the back of the room.

Today, Professor Rune would collect their fear papers. The entire class murmured with anxious excitement as the room slowly filled. At the front of the classroom, a cot had been set up, presumably for the Mud.

Just then, the door burst open and the class's attention turned to their professor walking briskly to the middle of the classroom.

"I trust you all have your papers ready to hand in?" he said loudly as he turned to face the class. A few nodded their heads as others ruffled through their bags to pull it out.

"Good. Now, then. Here is how we will do this. I will call you up here. You will hand me your paper. I may read your fear out loud, I may not. I will perform a spell so I can see what your fear is when you touch the Mud I have in this jar. You will need to place your entire hand into the mud in order to feel the full affect of it."

The entire class sat at attention, staring at Professor Rune. Some of the students looked slightly nervous. Remus had paled considerably at the prospect that the professor would read the fears aloud for the entire class to hear. James, Sirius, and Peter all exchanged glances at this news and tried to give Remus comforting smiles as well. He only smiled weakly back at them.

"Do I have any volunteers to go first?" Professor Rune asked. Not a single person moved. The students stared at their professor eyes barely blinking. The room was completely silent, each student hoping the professor wouldn't choose them to go first.

"Not one brave person will go first?" Professor Rune sneered. "Pity. I'll just have to call on someone, then, won't I?" He scanned the room, making eye contact with each student, a sneer plastered on his face as the students winced under his gaze. James gave him a hard look when his professor's eyes locked on his. His gaze finally left and fell onto each of his friends in turn.

"Miss Evans, would you care to go first?" Professor Rune said. All eyes turned to Lily who gulped nervously. Adelie and Tori both looked at her and nodded encouragingly. Lily turned back to the professor and stood up. Paper in hand, she walked to the front of the classroom, hands shaking.

James stared intently at Lily. He did not like Rune. He kept choosing her. Last lesson, he picked on her, and now he's forcing her to go first. Lily handed Rune her paper. He read over it quickly, his eyebrows rising slightly.

"How sweet, Miss Evans. Now, let's see if you are correct." Lily breathed heavily as she sat down on the cot. Rune handed her a small jar and set it beside her.

Rune took out his wand and muttered a small spell under his breath. Lily's face showed surprise after he had performed the spell.

"Put your hand inside," Rune commanded. Lily slowly obeyed. James couldn't take his eyes off Lily's face. He had his fists clenched in anxiety. It took only a few moments for the Mud to take affect. With a small sigh, Lily collapsed onto the cot, unconscious. The class watched in eerie silence, waiting for something to happen.

Suddenly, Lily twitched violently. Her face contorted with pain as she turned her head.

"No," she muttered, though only a few people understood what she said.

"NO!" She screamed this time, causing the entire class to jump at the sudden sound emanating from the unconscious form. "MUM!" Lily let out a whimper as she moved her head again. "Stop it!" she cried out. Her breathing was heavy as she turned on the cot. There were a few moments of silence until she let out a blood-curdling scream. "DAD!"

Lily thrashed about on the cot, pain written on her face. Rune ended his spell with a flick of his wand and pulled the jar of Oneirogenic Mud away from Lily. He set it on his desk. Lily shot up, eyes wide. She was breathing erratically, looking frantically around the room.

"Well done, Miss Evans. Your fear was correct. Take you seat," Rune said emotionlessly. Lily stood on shaky legs and almost fell over once on her way to her seat. Tori and Adelie immediately went to comfort her. Lily's face was pale, and her eyes were red. Her body shook slightly as Adelie rubbed her back.

"Who's next?" Rune asked, gazing across the classroom once more. His eyes fell on the Marauders.

"How about one of you? Who wants to go next?" The Marauders only looked at each other. After watching Lily go through hers, not one of them wanted to go next. James sighed. He was about to volunteer to go next, when Rune called out, "Mr. Lupin, come join me up front, please."

Remus paled even more than he had previously. He had no desire for any one of these people to see anything relating to his fear. Sirius gave his friend a comforting pat on the shoulder before pushing him gently upwards. Remus stood on shaky feet before walking to the front.

Remus handed the professor his paper, and Rune read it just as he had read Lily's. Rune's face contorted into a sneer. He looked up at Remus.

"A bit ironic, Lupin, isn't it? You're afraid of werewolves?"

There was a loud snort from the Slytherin side of the room. James looked over to see Snape glaring at Remus. Sirius clenched his fists and suppressed a growl; James' eyes narrowed in the direction of his professor. Peter muttered under his breath, "He better not."

Rune muttered his spell once again, instructed Remus to sit on the cot, and stick his hand into the jar. Just like Lily, after a few moments, Remus collapsed onto the cot, eyes closed.

Nothing much happened for the first few moments. Then, Remus let out a low growl. His features contorted into fury as he raised his right hand to claw the air. He growled even louder the second time as he twisted more on the cot. His hand swung through the air as if trying to smack someone across the face.

Just then, Remus let out a spine-tingling scream. He jerked violently, rolling over and falling with a thud to the ground. James and Sirius stood by there seats. The Mud jar flew from his hands, landing next to the wall. Remus struggled a few moments more before his eyes burst open. He searched the room frantically and sighed with relief when he saw his friends in the back.

"Close, Mr. Lupin, but I'm afraid your guess was incorrect." Remus stood and walked to his seat. James glared at Professor Rune.

"He knows bloody well why you didn't put your real fear down," James muttered darkly as he sat down.

Remus only sat there, staring at his desk.

"Next, will be Mr. Pettigrew," Rune stated evenly, eyes glued on the figure sitting next to Remus. Peter gulped, his anger gone and replaced by anxiety.

Peter handed the professor his paper nervously. Rune frowned deeply as he read the writing.

"Didn't I make it specifically clear that irrational fears were off limits?" Rune queried. Peter quivered under his professor's stare.

"I couldn't think of anything," Peter explained.

"That is no excuse. I'm sure every other person was able to figure out a fear that is relatively rational. Get on the cot, Pettigrew. You will now discover your fear with no preparation whatsoever." Peter gulped as he sat down. Rune performed his spell. He summoned the jar from where it had landed on the floor and gave it to Peter. After a moment's hesitation, he sunk his hand into the Mud and passed out like Lily and Remus.

"No, wait for me!" Peter cried out suddenly. "I can do it, too!" Peter's head whipped to the side. "Guys, wait just a little bit longer. I can do it, I know I can. All I need is a little time."

Rune ended his spell and pulled the mud from Peter's hand. Peter snapped out of his dream. His face was not one of terror as the previous ones had been, but one of true sorrow. Peter stared at the floor as he walked back to his seat.

"Interesting, Mr. Pettigrew," was the only thing Rune said. "Next will be Mr. Black."

James gave his friend a comforting look as Sirius clutched his paper in his hands, a grim look on his face as he stood up. He walked to the front of the room and handed his paper to the professor.

"You don't like your family, Mr. Black?" Rune asked, glancing up a Sirius.

"Of course not," Sirius said simply. "They're all slimy Slytherin gits." Rune sneered at Sirius before performing his spell and instructing Sirius to sit on the cot.

A slight flicker of nervousness flashed across Sirius' eyes, but vanished just as quickly as it had come.

"Stick your hand in the jar, Mr. Black," Rune instructed. Sirius did as he was told and fell unconscious on the cot as the others had.

The normal few moments of silence commenced, but Sirius' cry cut it off. James winced. He sounded almost as if he was in pain. The entire class gasped at the next thing that Sirius cried out. "_Crucio!_"

James' eyes widened. Remus stared, his mouth hanging open, and Peter winced at the fury in Sirius' voice. Even more chilling was what came next. Sirius burst out laughing. It wasn't the happy, bark-like laugh that everyone always heard from Sirius, but some demented cry of pleasure that had obviously come from casting the torture curse. Even the Slytherins seemed slightly scared by the maniacal happiness that emitted from Sirius.

Finally, Rune cut off his spell and pulled the Mud from Sirius' hand. Sirius jumped awake, almost falling off the cot. He panted uncontrollably and couldn't seem to take a full breath of air.

"You were correct, Mr. Black. Take your seat, please," Rune instructed. Sirius stood on shaky feet and made his way to his seat. A few paces away, though, his legs gave out and he fell to the floor.

"Sirius!" James exclaimed and leaped up to help his friend stand.

"Since you're up, Mr. Potter, why don't you go next?"

James glared at the professor. "Don't you think we've all had enough for today?"

"Are you scared to go?" Rune asked.

James clenched his fists. "I just think we've all had enough. Can we do the rest next time?"

"No," Rune stated evenly. "We still have time in class and we are going to use it to our fullest. You all have N.E.W.T.S. at the end of the year. If we put things off, we will never get done with what we need to cover. You will go now, Mr. Potter."

James stared angrily at his professor as he grabbed his essay and handed it to Rune. Rune skimmed over it quickly.

"You care for your friends. You're afraid that you won't be friends forever," Rune sneered.

"That's not how it was meant," James said, when he heard noises from the Marauders. "I'm afraid that this growing war thing will pull us apart or . . . or do something to separate us." Rune only nodded. He cast his spell, James sat on the cot, and Rune gave him the Mud. James stuck his hand into the mud and quickly fell unconscious.

The feeling was something James had never experienced before. His limbs grew heavy and numb. His mind felt cloudy and unused.

James looked around, and found he was in a completely different place. It was a large field. He started walking. As he walked, James noticed bodies lying on the ground everywhere. James began to panic. Where was he? What were these bodies? Closer inspection showed that each body was bloody and torn, but the cause of death was obvious. The Killing Curse had ended the lives of each of the bodies.

James turned around, panic rising. The field was strewn with bloody bodies, each one unmoving, each dead. James took a step back, shaking his head, but he fell backwards, tripping over one of the dead. James scrambled away hurriedly from the body he had fallen on, but on look at the face made him stop dead.

"Peter?" James looked at the body. It was Peter. His eyes were open wide, blood staining the skin around his mouth. His arm was bent underneath his body at an unnatural angle. His wand lay beside his body, stained with blood and split in two.

James turned his head away, but regretted it immediately. For there, lying at the head of Peter, was the body of Remus Lupin, as dead as Peter.

"No," James choked. "Remus? Please, no! NO!" he shouted. Peter was hard enough, but now Remus was dead, too. "This can't be happening." James shook his head. His heart ached horribly. Both Remus and Peter were dead. He couldn't take the pain in his heart. His friends couldn't be dead.

"They can't be," James whispered. Just then, James thought of Sirius. James searched frantically around him, dreading the fact he might find Sirius there, but James couldn't find Sirius anywhere near Remus or Peter. His heart rose slightly at his friend's absence; he needed to find Sirius. James stood and walked around, looking at each body for Sirius. He hoped beyond hope that Sirius wasn't there, but deep down inside him, he knew he would find his best friend among the bodies.

And he was right.

James found Sirius lying on the ground, flat on his back in the middle of the battlefield.

"No." James sprinted towards Sirius, dropping to his knees at the sight of his best friend. He wrapped his arms around Sirius' body, not daring to believe.

"No, not Sirius," James muttered. "No, not you. Please, not you. Sirius. SIRIUS!" James pushed his friend's hair from his face and saw how bloodied his face had become.

"SIRIUS!"

Just then, the graveyard began to fade. The clouds returned and James found himself lying on the floor of the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.

_Sirius. . ._ James looked to the back of the classroom. There, his friends sat, alive and not bloody, though maybe a little pale.

"Take your seat, Potter," Rune instructed. James slowly lifted himself off the ground and walked back to his seat, his friends staring at him, pale faces looking worried.


	7. Chapter 7: The Date

**A/N: Sorry! We didn't update for a really, really, really, really, really long time. It's summer now, and we plan on spending tons of time together. How much of that time will be spent writing. . . . I dunno! But we will try to get more and more chapters up to you guys! Thanks for sticking with us!**

**This is written by two authors. Me and CleveristWitchHerAge. We would both like to add that we don't own Harry Potter, though we both wish we did, but you all knew that already, didn't you?**

**Family Keeps You Sane**

By: animaguswolfsong and CleveristWitchHerAge

_Disclaimer: Don't own it. Never have, never will._

Chapter 7 - The Date

The seventh years all lacked their usual air. After the Defense Against the Dark Arts class, each student had his mind on his fear. The Marauders were no different. They all sat in the Head's Dorm common room. James sat beside the fire, Sirius stood by the window, looking up at the night sky. Remus sat on the couch, and Peter sat on the floor, leaning against the wall.

Their thoughts consumed them, filling the entire room with the gloomy thoughts. No one wanted to voice his questions about another's fear, for the conversation would only lead back to his fear.

James had his eyes on the fire that flickered softly, bouncing off the walls. He couldn't shake the vision of what he had seen. It seemed too real not to be true. Every now and then, he would divert his eyes around the room to reassure himself his friends were still alive and his dream hadn't been real.

Suddenly, Remus broke the silence. "I don't want you guys to come with me on full moons anymore," he said quietly.

"What?" Sirius asked, turning around to face his friend. Peter's head had shot up, and he looked at Remus. James turned his head to look sternly at Remus.

"If we're not afraid of you, why should you be afraid?" James asked.

"Yeah," Sirius put in. "We're not going to stop coming with you, Moony."

"Plus, when we're there, it's easier on you. And if we can make it easier on you, then we're going to!" Sirius said.

"We're not going to make you suffer over something that you have no control over."

"That's exactly my point, James," Remus said. "I have no control over my actions. What if I accidentally do something . . . hurt someone—hurt one of you—and you couldn't stop me? I couldn't live with myself if I hurt one of you."

"You won't, Moony," Sirius said. "We've already survived two years with you. What's one more?"

"No," Remus said sternly. "You're not going."

"You can't stop us," James said, standing. Remus quickly stood too, meeting James' gaze evenly. Neither blinked, neither gave any sign of yielding. Both had a determined look set on their faces. Finally, Remus sighed heavily and sat back down on the couch.

"You win, Prongs," Remus said. "I'm not gonna even try to compete against your stubbornness."

James smiled ruefully.

"We became animagi for you, Remus. If you keep us away from you, all that work would have been for nothing," Peter said. "And that was something I was actually able to do." Peter looked down at his hands as he said the last part. His friends turned slowly towards him. Peter didn't look up, though he could feel their looks on him.

"You can do lots of stuff, Wormtail," James said. looking at his friend.

"Oh, yeah? Like what?" Peter shot James a sharp look. "I'm not at the top of our class, like you three, I'm no Quidditch star like you and Sirius, and I can't master spells as quickly as Remus. Tell me, _James_, what am I good at?"

Sirius walked towards Peter and sat down next to him on the ground. Remus and James followed suit.

"You are the best lookout we could ask for," Sirius said.

"Yeah," Remus said. "Before we had the Map, you always knew when someone was approaching."

"So?" Peter said. "All that means is that I was replaced by a stupid piece of parchment."

"You came up with the idea for that 'stupid piece of parchment', Peter!" James exclaimed, using Peter's words.

"On accident," Peter protested.

"It's still thanks to you that we have it," Remus pointed out.

Peter glanced down at his hands folded in his lap.

"Even so," Peter said. "How do I contribute to this group _now_?" How am I special?"

"Wormtail, are you trying to get us to believe you're worthless?" Sirius asked, eyebrows raised. Peter glared at Sirius.

"We're not friends with you because of what you can do," Remus said. "We don't choose our friends based on how they contribute to us."

"We're your friends, Peter," James said. "Don't try to analyze that. Nothing is going to change us; we'll be friends for a long time." Peter smiled slightly at James. James could tell his friend didn't fully believe him, but James didn't believe himself either.

A small shudder made its way down James' back as visions of Sirius' lifeless face filled his mind. No one noticed it, except for Sirius. He frowned, studying James closely.

James could feel Sirius' gaze on him. He turned to face him, startling Sirius out of his steady concentration.

"What?" James asked Sirius.

"Are you okay?"

James stiffened. "Yes." His face was expressionless.

"Don't lie, James," Sirius said. "I can tell when you're lying. Why are you afraid of us not being friends?"

"It's not that we won't be friends, Sirius, it's that we can't be friends."

Remus, Peter, and Sirius stared blankly at James.

"What would keep us from being friends?" Remus asked.

James sighed, but didn't answer.

"I'd appreciate an explanation, James. And frankly, I'm slightly curious as to why you shouted out my name at the top of your lungs. It's pretty bone-chilling to hear your best friend shout your name like bloody murder."

James' face seemed devoid of emotion, but none of his friends missed the flicker of pure misery and remorse in his eyes.

"I . . ." James stopped. He looked around at his friends, pausing at each pair of eyes that stared expectantly at him. "I was in, it seemed like, a battlefield after a battle. Bodies lay everywhere . . ." James paused before continuing. "The first one I saw . . . was Peter. You were dead." Peter visibly paled at that three-word sentence. James didn't see his friend's reaction because he was too busy examining his hands. "Remus, you were right next to Peter." James closed his eyes. He would never be able to forget those eyes, so devoid of life. "And Sirius—" he paused abruptly. "You were . . . so bloody . . ."

Silence ruled the group for the next few minutes as their thoughts brooded on what James had said until Sirius spoke.

"James, it wasn't real. We're not gonna die, well, we'll all die eventually, but of old age, together," Sirius smiled weakly at James, who met his gaze, but not his smile. "I promise you, James, we will all make it out of this growing battle-thing alive and still friends. Not even some deranged Slytherin Dark Lord could tear us apart!" he said, half-seriously, half-jokingly. When James continued his glum look, Sirius sighed and put an arm on James' shoulder.

"Those dreams we had aren't going to come true," Remus said. "They were all figments of our imagination created by that Mud. None of them will come true exactly as we saw them."

"Yeah," Sirius said. "It's not like we're all prophetic or anything."

"I could tell you the same thing, Sirius," Remus said, and Sirius' smile vanished immediately.

"We've finally gotten around to me, then," Sirius said wryly.

"You won't end up like your family, Sirius. We've had this conversation before," James said.

"Yeah, but this time I saw myself do what I always feared I'd do, and worse I cast an unforgivable. And even worse than that, I cast it on—" Sirius stopped, eyes suddenly flying away from his friends to the burning fire.

"Cast it on whom?" James asked quietly.

Eyes still on the flickering flames, Sirius spoke in a soft, barely audible voice. "You."

James' eyes grew wide in surprise. Remus and Peter looked shocked. This time when the silence commenced, not one of them moved. James just stared disbelievingly at his best friend. His eyes seemed glued to Sirius' face. His heart beat rapidly in his chest and was certain everyone could hear it.

"You would never do that," Peter said. "You and James are like brothers. You'd never hurt him."

"It's not gonna happen, Sirius. You won't ever do anything like that."

"How can you be sure? Didn't you hear my laugh?" I _enjoyed _it." James snapped out of his reverie.

"Would you like to hurt me, Sirius?" James asked.

Sirius' head shot up, eyes wide as he exclaimed, "No! Why would ever ask that?"

"Sirius," James said. "We can tell you that you won't end up like your parents every day for the rest of the year, but we all know you'll never stop fearing that. But listen to me when I say this, Sirius, I believe with all my heart that you will _never_ be like your parents. Neither do Remus or Peter. Do you trust our judgment?"

"Yes, but—"

"Point made, Sirius," James said in a tone that announced the conversation was over. Sirius only returned his gaze to the warm fire.

* * *

The week passed slowly for the Marauders. The combined weight of the murder of James' great uncle and their fears being revealed kept them from reeking havoc upon the school. It wasn't until that weekend that their spirits lifted because of a promised Hogsmead trip. Only James was still sour.

"Come on, Prongs! Why so glum?" Sirius asked as the four friends walked down the streets of Hogsmead.

James ignored Sirius and kept his eyes on the object of his anger. Eric and Lily walked out of The Three Broomsticks together. Eric had a smug grin on his face as he wrapped his arm around Lily's shoulder, pulling her closer to him.

"Aww, is little Prongsie jealous?" Sirius asked, grinning. Remus only rolled his eyes, and Peter stifled a grin. Sirius put his hand on James' shoulder and steered him away from Lily and towards Zonko's.

* * *

Lily stiffened slightly when she felt Eric's arm around her. She gave him a shy smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. Eric grinned down at her and pulled her closer. Suddenly feeling uncomfortable, Lily pushed away slightly.

"Could you not do that, please," Lily asked politely. Eric looked at her puzzled.

"Why?" he asked.

"Well," Lily said calmly, pulling out of his reach. "It's only our first date. Shouldn't we get to know each other a little more first?"

"I thought we already knew each other, Lillers, don't we?" Lily winced at the name. She didn't like it, but Eric wouldn't stop calling her that.

"Not really, Eric."

"I know lots about you," Eric said, beaming.

"Like what?" Lily challenged smiling.

Eric looked uneasily at her.

"Well, um…" he looked away thinking. "Your favorite color is red." He said triumphantly turning to look at her. Lily gave him a sideward glance.

"Nope."

"Oh." Eric's face fell. "Okay then." They fell into an awkward silence as they walked through Hogsmead.

"What is your favorite color?" Eric asked breaking the silence.

"Guess," Lily said, shooting him a look from the corner of her eye, smiling.

Eric remained silent for a moment, putting his hand to him mouth in mock-intense thought. "Well, if I were you, my favorite color would have to be…" he paused. "green," he said with confidence.

Lily looked at him, smiling without answering. Eric looked at her expectantly.

"So? Am I right?"

Lily put her hands behind her back. "Maybe." Eric grinned, his eyes turning towards the skies.

"Just tell me, Lillers!"

Lily flinched slightly at the name, but composed herself quickly. "It's hazel."

"Hazel, eh?" Eric said. "Well, then, I'll have to store that information away for future reference." Lily just smiled shyly.

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­

* * *

James led the group out of Zonko's, their hands filled with bags from the joke store. The time spent in the store cheered him up slightly, and they were now headed to the Three Broomsticks to get a bite to eat and a butterbeer for each of them.

"Prongs, we gotta use that Wippersnapper for our Halloween prank!" Sirius exclaimed as he leaped to his friend's side.

"Only if we make sure it doesn't actually hurt anyone, Padfoot!" Remus said, narrowing his eyes at Sirius. Sirius turned around.

"Aw! Come on, Moony! What fun is Halloween unless we send a few Slytherins to the hospital wing!" Remus just shook his head; it was hopeless.

A girlish giggle made its way through the crowded street and reached the Marauders. James turned immediately towards the sound.

"Lily!" he said. He clenched his fists when he saw Lily with her hands behind her back smiling up at Eric. "She's flirting with him!" he exclaimed.

"Well that's what couples usually do, Prongs," Remus pointed out. James glared at him.

"But that's not a couple, that's Lily!" he said loudly.

"You're obsessed, mate," Peter said, shaking his head.

"And you care why?" James retorted, turning around to face Peter.

"It's unhealthy for you," Remus said.

"And she doesn't seem at all interested in you whatsoever," Sirius said placing his elbow on James' shoulder.

"I'm going over there!" James started in the direction of the two, but Sirius grabbed his arm.

"I won't let you make a fool out of yourself, mate," Sirius said sternly.

James glared at Sirius. "I'm not gonna—" James stopped. He stood straight and shook Sirius off of him. "Fine. Let's go get our butterbeers."


	8. Chapter 8: Tension Explodes, Confusion R

**A/N: ****This is written by two authors. Me and CleveristWitchHerAge. We would both like to add that we don't own Harry Potter, though we both wish we did, but you all knew that already, didn't you?**

**Family Keeps You Sane**

By: animaguswolfsong and CleveristWitchHerAge

_Disclaimer: Don't own it. Never have, never will._

Chapter 8 - Tension Explodes, Confusion Rises

James was stressed out all during Wednesday's Quidditch practice. Their next game was against Slytherin, and his team wasn't doing very well. Lee kept dropping the quaffle, Kingsley couldn't get the bludger to go away from his teammates, particularly James, and Sirius was being his normal self.

The last straw was when Eric missed the quaffle on a particularly easy shot. James let out a growl as he flew to the ground and sat heavily on the side of the field, grabbing his water bottle and chucking across the pitch. He sank down on the bench, fuming. His team soon followed him to the ground, holding their brooms in their hands staring at James as if he were a bomb ready to explode.

"James?" Sirius started, but James jumped up and glared at everyone.

"Our game against Slytherin is on Saturday, and you're all playing as if you've never even heard of Quidditch before! Come one! You all can play; that's why you're on this team. We're gonna take a break. Be ready to practice in fifteen minutes. I need to calm down, and we all need to get our heads in this game."

The group nodded and separated. James sat back down on the bench and pressed his hands to his face, letting out a loud groan. Before he knew what happened, a hand pressed against his shoulder and knocked him off the bench. James opened his eyes angrily as he lay on his back on the ground. Above him, Sirius smirked down at him.

"What was that for?" James growled, picking himself up

"You're in a bad mood," Sirius said calmly, staring at James.

"Great observation, Sherlock," James muttered as he brushed dirt off his shoulder. "What'd you do that for?"

"You're in a bad mood."

"So you knocked me over?"

"Yep."

James stared up at Sirius and nodded his head. "That makes sense."

Sirius beamed. "I know!" Sirius sat next to James on the bench. "You okay, Prongsie?"

"Yeah, just stressed," James replied. "Slytherin's got a good team this year."

"So do we," Sirius said.

"Then why aren't we playing like it?"

"Stress kills people, mate. I know how serious Quidditch is, but ya gotta loosen up and have fun, got it?"

James grinned.

Soon enough, it was time to commence practice. James told Sirius to go on and get on his broom and fly out. He walked towards Kingsley, Lee, and Keith who were gathered around Eric and laughing. Eric caught James' eyes and stopped laughing.

"So," he turned back to his audience. "This weekend I went to Hogsmeade with none other than Lily Evans, as you all know. Mates, I gotta tell ya, she's something. She couldn't keep her hands off me!"

James picked up his pace. "That's not how I saw it, Wells," he pointed out. "I believe you were the one who couldn't 'keep your hands off' as you say, but Lily wouldn't let you keep your hands on."

"Stalking us, now are you, Potter?" Eric queried. "Lily adores me and you can't stand that, now can you?" James clenched his fists. "You can't stand it that she's my Lillers and not yours. You can't stand it that I've got something you want. She's mine to do anything with. She's my girlfriend; I own her."

Words formed wonderfully in James' mind, each a wonderfully colorful comeback, but they all lost their way traveling to his lips. James raised his fist, ready to knock Eric out, but before he could move, Tori popped out of nowhere and punched Eric so hard he stumbled backwards. James' jaw dropped as the others let out cries of surprise and amazement. Behind James, Sirius fell off his broom, laughing uncontrollably.

"DON'T YOU EVER TALK ABOUT LILY THAT WAY EVER AGAIN, YOU BASTARD! I HIGHLY DOUBT LILY WOULD EVER LET YOU CONTROL HER YOU'RE A SICK, EGOTISTICAL PIG, AND SHE ONLY CHOSE TO GO OUT WITH YOU TO COVER UP FEELINGS I KNOW SHE HAS FOR SOMEONE ELSE! SHE MAY THINK YOU'RE PERFECTLY FINE, BUT IF YOU HURT HER IN ANY WAY, I SWEAR YOU'D BETTER PUT EYES ON THE BACK OF THAT EGOTISTICAL HEAD OF YOURS OR YOU'LL GET A CURSE IN THE BACK!" And with that, Tori stormed up to the castle, leaving the rest of her team speechless. Even Sirius had quieted and had stored away in his memory to never get on Tori Booth's bad side.

"I think practice is over for today," James mumbled as he looked at Tori's retreating figure. He took a second to glare at Eric before he too turned towards the castle.

* * *

Lily finally closed her book, sick of reading the fine print covering the pages. She packed her books up in her bag that she had scattered over the library table and left. She headed straight for the head's dorm, only meeting a few people along the way. Potter was at his practice, so the dorm would be empty.

'Thankfully,' Lily thought. She didn't need to deal with him, especially after her date with Eric. She had seen James sneaking glances at her all that day, and at one point she thought she saw Sirius holding him back.

"Fairy Lights," she told the portrait when she reached it. Lily walked in and was surprised to see Eric sitting on the couch in front of the fireplace. He looked up when he heard Lily enter.

"Eric, I thought you were at practice," Lily said, annoyed that he'd remembered the password. "What are you doing here?"

Eric's face stayed grim as he stood up and walked towards Lily. Then, Lily saw a large black eye on his face. She put her hand over her mouth and ran over to him. "What happened to you?"

Eric shrugged his shoulders. "You know some pretty protective people," he commented, grabbing her wrist to stop her from touching his bruise. Fury suddenly boiled behind her eyes .

"Potter," she muttered, rage dripping form every letter. Eric hesitated for a moment. A small smile crept on his lips, but he quickly pushed it away to replace it with a grim frown.

"Yes," he said solemnly. Lily growled and made to turn around, but Eric still held her wrist. "But don't be too hard on him. I mean, he only tackled me to the ground. It wasn't—"

"Wait 'til I get my hands on that vermicular little—"

A small smile escaped Eric. "Lily, calm down. I'm fine. Potter'll get what he deserves."

Lily turned back to Eric, fury still burning in her eyes, but she calmed down.

_Soon, Potter. Soon._

* * *

"That was brilliant, Tori!" Sirius gushed as they walked in the Gryffindor common room. Tori glared at Sirius, causing him to wipe is smile from his face. "What?"

Tori walked passed the two Marauders to the girls dormitory. "Lily won't think it was so brilliant, now will she?" she snapped at Sirius before turning up the stairs.

Sirius looked curiously at James, who just rolled his eyes at him and sat down in the large chair by the fireplace.

"Don't tell me you didn't enjoy that?" Sirius said, standing in front of James.

James looked up at Sirius, his expression annoyed. "Can we just forget about it, Padfoot?" Sirius shrugged his shoulders and turned to throw himself on the couch. James turned his attention back to the burning fireplace. He wasn't sure why he was so upset. He himself had wanted to do that to Wells. Maybe he was only upset that he hadn't gotten to Wells first.

Just then, the portrait swung open and an irate Lily stormed in. Her eyes quickly scanned the room. Movement in the room ceased as all eyes focused on Lily.

Sirius risked movement and leaned over to James. "I'd hate to be Tori right now."

As Lily's head moved to face them, James saw the fire burning in Lily's eyes and was glad that Tori had beaten him to Wells.

"POTTER!" she shrieked as she approached.

James stood up at out of his chair as Lily drew her wand.

"Evans," James said, backing away into the wall. Her wand was touching his chest.

"HOW DARE YOU! YOU SELFISH, CONCEITED GIT! YOU POMPOUS SLIMY MORON! YOU—"

"_Hey!_" James shouted. "_You mind telling me what I did?_"

"You know perfectly well what you did, or are you really that moronic?"

"Actually, Evans, I—" he stopped. It suddenly dawned on him why Lily was ready to curse him into oblivion. "You think I… No, Lily, it wasn't me—"

"The heck, it wasn't! Who else would it be? You followed us around at Hogsmead! You—"

"Not on purpose! We just happened to go to the same places. Do you think I actually _want_ to see you and Wells snogging?"

"Shove it, Potter! I'm not interested in your excuses"

Before Lily could open her mouth to utter a curse, her wand flew form her hand into Sirius' outstretched hand. She turned around and growled furiously at Sirius. In a whirl, she turned back to James and raised her hand to slap him across the face. before she could do anything, James grabbed her wrist and pulled her closer.

"Potter! Let go!" she cried. Lily raised her other hand to strike him, but James just grabbed her other hand.

"Let go of me! Let go!"

James stared into Lily's eyes, his hand still gripping her wrists. "I didn't do it," he said evenly. "If you think I would actually hurt someone you cared about, you have me seriously messed up. I would never hurt someone you cared about, no matter who it was, unless they were hurting you."

Lily struggled furiously, growling at James. She managed to get one of her hands free, and, before James could stop her, she slapped him across the face.

"YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO DO THAT TO ANYONE I GO OUT WITH! I AM NOT YOURS TO PROTECT! IF YOU DO ANYTHING LIKE THAT EVER AGAIN…I DON'T NEED YOU! I DON'T WANT YOU! THERE'S NO WAY THAT I WILL EVER GO OUT WITH YOU! STAY AWAY FROM ME AN ANY OTHER GUY I CHOOSE TO DATE!"

"Lily!" someone shouted, but she didn't hear.

"YOU IGNORANT IMBECILE! YOU SAVAGE MORON! YOU—"

"LILY!" Lily stopped. She turned to see Tori standing at the bottom of the stairs to the girls' dormitory.

"Not now, Tori."

"Yes, now!" she cried. "He didn't punch your stupid boyfriend. I did!" Tori shouted at Lily. "And you'd do well not to attack James before you know the truth."

Lily looked shocked. James had let go of her other wrist, but she hadn't noticed. "W-What?" she stuttered. "You punched him? _Why?_"

"Because he's an idiot," Tori said, glaring at Lily. "And you'd do well to remember that as well." With that, Tori turned on her heel and left.

* * *

James stared off after the red-head as she ran after Tori. No one said anything. With a sigh, James stood and began walking towards the door.

"Hey, James," Sirius said, stopping his friend by placing his hand on James' shoulder. "What are you doing?"

James shrugged Sirius' hand off and continued towards the door.

"I'm going for a walk."

James found himself by the lake kicking a pebble he found. He accidentally kicked it too far, and the pebble rolled into the lake. James rolled his eyes at himself before dropping down on the ground in the shade of a tree. The sun was setting behind him, so the shadows of the objects around him stretched out before him.

Wells must have told Lily that he had punched him and not Tori. But why would he do that? Frankly, James didn't care why Wells had told Lily that. All he cared about was what he was going to do now. Lily knew that Tori had punched the creep, but James would bet that she wished it had been James and not Tori.

Anger and loathing towards Wells bubbled inside him. The next time James crossed his path. . . .

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­

* * *

" What were you thinking, Tori? Giving Eric a black eye?" Lily asked furiously as she glared at her friend who seemed completely uninterested in what she was saying.

Tori remained silent, ignoring the fiery girl.

"Answer me!" Lily cried. "That's not your place any more than it is Potter's! You don't have that right, either!"

Tori remained calm, sitting peacefully by the window, ignoring every word Lily said. This, of course, enraged Lily more. With a growl, Lily picked up a pillow off her bed and chucked it across the room at her friend, smacking Tori in the side of her head.

"Hey!" Tori cried, jumping up to face Lily.

"Are you listening to me?" Lily shouted.

"Of course I am! I'm just choosing not to respond!"

Lily let out another growl of anger and frustration.

"You want to know why I socked your boyfriend—"

"He's not—"

"It's because he is a slimy, worthless git who is just using you for his own enjoyment," Tori snapped, her eyes burning passionately.

Lily paused, momentarily stunned. She shook her head slightly and cried, "He is not using me!"

"Yes, he is," Tori yelled back.

"How do you know? You don't know him! He is sweet and—" Tori interrupted Lily.

"Don't know him?" she yelled, "Hello, he is on the same Quidittich team as me. He said so today at practice. I know him better than you do Lily. He is a selfish, worthless, bigheaded, ignorant git who uses girls for his own pleasure and cares only about himself."

"So is Potter," Lily snapped back.

"What?" Tori asked, confused. "When did James come into this?"

"I . . . I don't know! Why does it matter?"

"Because we're not talking about James here, we're talking about Eric!" Tori said angrily. "Haven't you noticed that James has had no girlfriend since Christmas break last year?" Tori asked. Lily didn't know how to respond to that.

"So? he is still an ignorant git," she said lamely. Tori threw her hands up in frustration.

"Eric is ten times worse then James _and_ Sirius put together," she growled.

"He is not!" Lily yelled.

"Is that the best defense you can come up with? He doesn't care about you. He only cares about getting what he wants." Tori yelled.

"Eric is not like that, unlike Potter_,_" she spat.

"Well, _Potter _actually cares about you, _unlike _Eric! _James_ cares about you; he has cared about you since first year!" Tori yelled.

"No he hasn't!"

Tori laughed a bitter, hard laugh.

"You are so stupid!" she exclaimed at Lily. Lily stared at her. "Eric wouldn't give a second thought about hurting you!"

"Why did you agree to go out with Eric in the first place?" Tori asked, decided to take a different track.

"Because he asked me," Lily said crossing her arms.

"James has asked you thousands of times and you always so no to him," Tori commented.

"That's because he's a pompous git who thinks everything is about him," Lily defended. Tori stared at Lily. "The only reason James asks me out is because he can't get me. He doesn't care about how I feel." Lily turned away from her friend.

Tori sat there for a moment, processing what the red-head had just said. Slowly, her eyes grew wider, and she looked at Lily triumphantly.

"You're scared!"

Lily whipped around. "What?"

"You're scared of what could happen if you said yes to James! You said yes to Eric because it's easier that way to bury your real feelings! Lily, you're a brilliant girl. You _know_ James cares about you! You've noticed it. You keep saying the same things about him, trying to convince yourself that he truly is a pompous git, but you've found it harder to believe. So, in an attempt to bury the feelings deeper, you told Eric you would go out with him. That won't work. I can promise you that. Sooner or later, the truth will come out."

Lily stood staring at Tori, silent, her mouth hanging slightly open. She had nothing to say in response. She stood completely still, unnerved by Tori's small speech.

Tori sighed and looked down at the floor and back up at Lily. "I'm sorry, Lily."

She turned towards the door, but paused before opening it. "Sooner would probably be easier."

With that, Tori left the dorm, leaving Lily standing in the middle of the room, with tears beginning to fill her eyes.


End file.
